Sakura Airi Is Acting Strange! - Classroom of the Elite: I Have the Ability to Read Minds! (COTE)

Chapter 194: Sakura Airi Is Acting Strange!

Looking at Tokito Hiroya's arm in a cast, Komiya and Yamawaki suddenly had nothing to say.

Ryuen had actually broken the guy's arm. How were they supposed to compete with that?

Unless Ryuen broke both of their arms too.

"Then Tokito, get ready to become the student council's discipline committee member. I'll give you an application form later. Fill it out and return it to me," Yuto said.

"Got it!"

Tokito looked ecstatic.

In truth, Tokito had always been Yuto's first choice. The only reason he had called Komiya and Yamawaki over as well was to make all three compete for the position.

Yuto wanted Tokito to understand that he wasn't the only person qualified to become the discipline committee member responsible for watching Ryuen. Komiya and Yamawaki were candidates too.

If Tokito wanted to keep the position, he needed to watch Ryuen properly. Otherwise, Yuto could simply replace him with Komiya or Yamawaki.

"Boss Shimizu, does the student council only need one discipline committee member?" Yamawaki asked.

"Don't call me Boss. Do I look like some delinquent gang leader?" Yuto shot him an annoyed look. "For now, the student council can only appoint one person to the position."

"But if Tokito does a good job keeping Ryuen under control, the student council president will see how useful the position is. If I persuade him afterward, we might be able to create more discipline committee positions."

"That's great!"

Yuto glanced at Komiya and Yamawaki as they immediately brightened.

He had casually dangled a promise in front of them, and they were already this happy about it.

These two really didn't seem particularly clever.

Yuto had the distinct feeling that he could sell them off and they would still happily help him count the money.

...

The relatively pleasant conversation soon came to an end.

Komiya and Yamawaki left together, while Yuto kept Tokito behind to discuss the discipline committee position in more detail.

"Tokito, do you know why I chose you?"

"Because I hate Ryuen the most out of all of us, and my conflict with him is the deepest!"

"That's only part of it. What I actually need is someone who'll keep a constant eye on Ryuen and use the authority of the discipline committee member to stop him from causing trouble."

Yuto got straight to the point.

"And the reason I chose you out of the three of you is because you knew how to use the fact that Ryuen broke your arm to strengthen your position. You're considerably smarter than the other two."

"I understand, Boss Shimizu! I'll keep my eyes on that bastard Ryuen every second of the day!"

"I told you not to call me Boss."

Yuto glanced at him.

"Anyway, once you get back, fill out the student council application form. After that, wait for the discipline committee member position to be finalized."

"I'll fill it out the moment I get back! Is there anything else you want me to do, Shimizu-san?"

"Nothing mandatory."

Yuto paused before adding, "But if you're willing, secretly tell me about any orders or instructions Ryuen gives you inside the classroom."

"I'm absolutely willing!"

Manabe Shiho was already Kikyo and Yuto's eyes and ears inside Class D.

But nobody complained about having an extra pair of eyes and ears.

Besides, if Ryuen ever discovered that Manabe had been leaking information to Kikyo, Yuto would still have Tokito as a backup source.

By the time Tokito left Cafe Dia, he seemed to have genuinely started treating himself like Yuto's subordinate.

He deliberately walked a step behind Yuto as though respectfully allowing his boss to go first.

Yuto waved him away in disgust and told him to stop following.

Watching Tokito leave, Yuto smiled faintly.

"The collar for Ryuen is ready. Now we'll see whether it can actually keep him restrained."

Even if Tokito couldn't completely stop Ryuen after becoming a discipline committee member, he would still become a source of internal conflict within Class D.

At the very least, he would become one of the biggest obstacles to Ryuen continuing to rule the class through violence.

...

After settling the discipline committee appointment, Yuto checked the time on his phone.

It was only 6:27 PM.

"Still early. I thought this might make me late for dinner."

He started heading back toward the detached apartment.

Just then, the phone still in his hand suddenly rang.

Yuto looked down and was surprised to see Chabashira Sae calling him.

He answered with a teasing smile.

"Sae-chan, why are you calling me? Shouldn't you be preparing dinner with Airi right now?"

"That's exactly what we're doing. Sakura is in the kitchen preparing the ingredients."

Chabashira glanced toward the kitchen.

"Shimizu, haven't you noticed that Sakura has been acting strange?"

Yuto's smile immediately disappeared.

He frowned.

"Airi's acting strange? How?"

"When we went shopping for ingredients, she looked gloomy. She's been distracted and absent-minded, and she keeps zoning out. Something feels wrong."

"That can't be right. She seemed completely normal before school ended this afternoon."

Yuto quickened his pace toward the apartment.

"Chabashira-sensei, did you ask her what happened?"

"I asked why she seemed so distracted. She said it was nothing and that she was just tired, but I don't think it's that simple."

Chabashira had nearly led Class D all the way to Class A in the past.

She was observant enough to notice that something was clearly wrong with Airi.

While the two of them had been preparing vegetables, Chabashira found an excuse to step away and call Yuto.

"I'll be back right away. Please keep an eye on Airi until then."

"I will."

After ending the call, Chabashira returned to the kitchen.

Airi was standing in front of the counter with a gloomy expression, holding a kitchen knife and chopping a potato.

Chabashira's heart nearly jumped out of her chest.

Airi had already chopped the potato into pieces barely larger than her fingernails.

Just how distracted was she?

"Sakura!"

"Ah?"

Chabashira's voice snapped Airi out of her daze.

She looked blankly toward the kitchen doorway.

"Chabashira-sensei? What's wrong?"

Chabashira pointed at the knife in her hand.

"Put the knife down first."

"Hm? Ah!"

Airi finally noticed what she had done.

"How did I cut the potato this small?"

"You're clearly not in the right state of mind. Put the knife down before you cut yourself and go rest in the living room. Shimizu will be back soon."

"Huh? Chabashira-sensei, you contacted Yuto?"

"What else was I supposed to do? You wouldn't tell me why you were so distracted, so I had no choice but to let Shimizu ask you himself."

"..."

Seeing the troubled expression on Airi's face, Chabashira looked slightly surprised.

"Sakura, you don't want Shimizu to know what's bothering you?"

"Mm... because if Yuto finds out, he'll definitely get really angry."

"So it's something that would make Shimizu angry?"

Chabashira tilted her head slightly.

"What happened?"

Her impression of Yuto was extremely positive.

That troublesome brat was almost always smiling, often flashing the kind of handsome grin that could leave girls staring blankly at him.

Chabashira had never actually seen him truly angry before.

"Chabashira-sensei, thank you for worrying about me."

Airi bowed slightly.

She hadn't wanted Yuto to learn about what was troubling her, but Chabashira had only contacted him because she cared.

So Airi was genuinely grateful.

"You don't need to thank me. It's only natural for a teacher to care about her students."

Though it wasn't merely concern for a student anymore.

After spending so much time with the gentle and obedient Airi lately, Chabashira had gradually grown very fond of her.

She had almost started treating the girl like a younger sister.

"Okay, Sakura. Go sit in the living room for a while."

"Mm."

Airi left the kitchen with a gloomy expression and sat down on the sofa.

...

She didn't know how much time had passed before she heard the apartment door open.

Airi jolted upright and immediately hurried toward the entrance.

The moment she saw Yuto's familiar figure, she rushed forward and threw herself into his arms.

Yuto was confused by the sudden embrace, but he caught her securely.

One arm wrapped around her waist while his other hand gently stroked her back.

"Airi, what's wrong?"

Breathing in his familiar scent and feeling the warmth of his embrace, Airi spoke quietly.

"...Yuto, I got scared."

"So something frightened you."

Yuto kept his voice gentle.

"Let's sit down and talk about it properly."

He bent slightly, picked Airi up in his arms, and carried her toward the living room.

Chabashira apparently noticed Yuto had returned and came out of the kitchen.

When she saw him carrying Airi into the living room, she quietly turned around and went back into the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone.

Yuto sat down on the sofa with Airi still in his arms and let her settle against him.

Airi curled her legs up and made herself as small as possible, pressing close to Yuto as though she wanted to hide completely within his embrace.

Yuto didn't immediately ask what had frightened her.

He simply kept stroking her back, patiently calming her down.

After five or six minutes, Airi finally began to relax.

Still curled against him, she pointed toward her school bag on the coffee table.

Yuto immediately understood and reached over to bring it to her.

Airi opened the bag and pulled out a fairly thick pink envelope.

"Yuto... these are what scared me."

"Let me see what they are."

Judging from the pink envelope, Yuto initially thought it might contain a love letter.

But a simple confession shouldn't have frightened Airi this badly.

At most, she would have felt confused or troubled.

Whatever was inside the envelope had clearly scared her.

Yuto stopped stroking her back for a moment and emptied its contents into his hand.

Airi seemed genuinely terrified of whatever was inside.

The moment Yuto pulled everything out, she closed her eyes and buried her face against his chest.

There was no letter paper inside.

Instead, the envelope contained a stack of rectangular photographs.

Yuto's brows immediately furrowed.

Every single photograph was of Sakura Airi.

And judging by the angles from which they had been taken, none of them were normal pictures.

They had all been secretly photographed.

Now Yuto understood why Airi was so frightened.

Someone as shy and timid as Airi would naturally be terrified by this.

Even a much more confident girl would feel deeply uneasy after discovering that someone had been secretly photographing her like this.

"There are messages written on the backs of the photos too..." Airi whispered from his arms.

"I see."

Yuto flipped over the dozen or so photographs.

Black handwriting covered the back of every one.

[Shizuku-chan, do you believe in fate? I do! Because I actually met you at this school!]

[Shizuku-chan, even after you put on glasses, I still recognized you. I'm your biggest fan!]

[Shizuku-chan, you're always alone, so you don't have a boyfriend, right? There's no way you could have one! I won't allow it!]

[Shizuku-chan, I've been walking around near you all this time. Haven't you noticed me yet?!]

[Shizuku-chan...]

Every photograph had another disturbing message written on the back.

The obsessive wording was enough to send a chill down anyone's spine.

Just what kind of sick stalker secretly followed someone around taking photographs like this?

But the phrases "Shizuku-chan" and "there's no way you could have a boyfriend" immediately gave Yuto enough information to identify the stalker.

It was that disgusting older employee who worked in the after-sales service area at Keyaki Mall.

…

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Chapter 194 - Sakura Airi Is Acting Strange!